August 2018 was on a par with August 2014 and 6% lower in total volume sales than 2017. We have to go back to 2011 and 2012 to see August sales levels that we were significantly lower than this year.

And that fits with the reports of low footfall during the hot weeks when people weren’t shopping anywhere, let alone garden centres.

The good thing is that as the weather has cooled and children have gone back to school, garden centre sales volumes have started to move up. Hopefully an Indian Summer during September will see plenty of activity and increased sales.

GTN Bestsellers Top 50 sales volumes compared to the same week last year: week 35